The number of banks in Ghana may shoot up next year if the Bank of Ghana (BoG) yields to pressure from some industry players to increase the number.<\/p>\n
Ghana currently has 32 banks after the central bank this year approved five more banks which include OmniBank, Premium bank and Ghana Home Loans.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”klpcaGGkJhTplAApxEytrwT4zRMPbF5R”]As the number of banks grows, there have been calls for smaller banks to merge to help them expand their capital base to undertake high-budget projects.<\/p>\n
But speaking recently at a launch of OmniBank, the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah rather urged the Governor of the central bank, to license indigenous companies that meet all the criteria to be a bank since it will intensify competition in the industry and create jobs.<\/p>\n
According to him, the move will create jobs and provide an opportunity for Ghanaian owned banks to have a major stake in the financial sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though we have reached the thirty second, let me use this opportunity to encourage the Bank of Ghana to license any Ghanaian entity that qualifies to run a commercial bank. Because if for nothing at all, they will create jobs and increase competition which will make the banks operate within ther terms of the industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Debrah observed that Ghana has a stable financial sector that has the capacity to drive the country\u2019s developmental agenda.<\/p>\n
He stated that government is always ready to support financial institutions that will abide by the rules of the regulator to protect Ghanaians.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe sincerely that Ghana has come of age and because we want to expand our economy we should encourage our brothers and sisters who have the ability to support the banking industry the opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Managing Director of Omni Bank Ghana, Philip Oti Mensah has assured that the bank will continue to serve the SME sector to expand its operations.<\/p>\n
According to him, prior to attaining a banking status, the company which operated as Union Savings and Loans adequately served the SME sector, hence will not depart from it.<\/p>\n
Mr. Oti Mensah also told Citi Business News<\/strong> the bank aims at achieving three billion deposits by 2020.<\/p>\n \u2013<\/p>\n By: Lawrence Segbefia\/citibusinessnews.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The number of banks in Ghana may shoot up next year if the Bank of Ghana (BoG) yields to pressure from some industry players to increase the number. Ghana currently has 32 banks after the central bank this year approved five more banks which include OmniBank, Premium bank and Ghana Home Loans. [contextly_sidebar id=”klpcaGGkJhTplAApxEytrwT4zRMPbF5R”]As the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":215757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[121,32,171],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n